Air conditioner



J. M. LEWIS AIR CONDITIONER Feb. 21, 1950 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Feb.16, 1946 Jsgpi M Zen/1s IN V EN TOR.

[175' AGENT J. M. LEWIS AIR CONDITIONER Feb. 21, 1950 4 Sheets-Sheet 3Filed Feb. 16, 1946 M Lew. INVEN'I'OR.

HIS/165W]? Patented Feb. 21, 1950 UNITED STATES PATENT orrica Claims.

1 This invention relates to improvements in air conditioners and moreparticularly to air con- .tiitioners for lowering the temperature of airby passing it through fibrous material which is kept moistened.

Heretofore air conditioners of the type in which the air has beenmoistened usually have had combined therewith fan or blower mechanismwhich made the unit so large as to substantially eliminate the use ofthe window in which it was installed, made for unpleasant noise anddirected the conditioned air to one portion of a room.

The primary object of this invention is to provide an air conditionerwhich is neat in appearance, which occupies only a relatively smallportion of a window while possessing a relatively large air intakeopening.

Another object of this present invention is to provide an airconditioner that may be installed within a window opening in such mannerthat the window may be opened and closed as desired.

Another object of this invention is to provide an air conditionerinstalled within a window opening the air inlet of which may beregulated by the amount the window is raised or lowered.

Another object of this invention is to provide an air conditioner thatmoistens the air, lowers the temperature thereof and filters same as itpasses into the room.

Another object of this invention is to provide an air conditioner thatkeeps the relative humidity of the air in the room low and always freshby passing the cooled, filtered air through the room only once before itis exhausted.

Still another object of this invention is to provide one or more airconditioner units within the window openings of a house so that theentire house may be air conditioned by the use of a single exhaust fanpositioned at some remote point from the air inlet.

Yet another object ofthe invention is to provide an air conditioner theair inlet and filter of which is sheltered from outside weatherconditions but at the same time provides for the ready changing orcleaning of the filter.

With the foregoing objects in mind and others that will manifestthemselves as the description proceeds, reference is to be had to theaccompanying drawings in which:

Fig. l is a perspective view of the air conditioner cabinet with partsbroken away and with parts shown in section to illustrate the details ofconstruction;

with parts broken away and with parts shown in section;

Fig. 3 is a sectional view taken on the line 3-3 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a vertical sectional view through the air conditioner cabinetshowing the manner of installing it within a window with a portion ofthe building shown in dashed outline;

Fig. 5 is a sectional view taken on the line 5--5 of Fig. 4; i

Fig. 6 is a perspective view of the detachable, adjustable louvermembers used for directing the course or the incoming air;

Fig. 7 is a perspective view of a filter holding element in openposition; and I Fig. 8 is a diagrammatic sectional view through a houseshowing the path of air through the air conditioner and the exhaust fan,with parts shown in elevation.

According to this present invention, one or more protected air inletfilters and moisteners for cooling and cleaning the incoming air may beinstalled in one or more rooms of the house and the air discharged by asingle exhaust fan positioned remote from the air inlets.

With more detailed reference to the drawings the numeral i designates aconventional house having windows 2 therein. An air conditionergenerally designated by the numeral 3 is positioned within one of thewindow openings 2. An exhaust fan 4 may be positioned within the attic 5of the house I so that it will withdraw air from the interior of house Iwhich will in turn cause air to fiow inward as indicated by the arrowsin Fig. 8, and be discharged through venti lator opening 6.

The air conditioner generally designated as 3 has a shell 7 which has anopen face on one side to receive a filter element 8 and to form an airinlet passage. It is preferable that the filter element 8 be composed ofa fibrous material 9, such as rock wool, wood excelsior, fibre glass orother suitable material on which water can collect so as to moisten andfilter the air which passes therethrough.

The filter element 8 is composed of, preferably, a one-piece sheet metalframe It, and an opening in either side thereof to permit the air topass therethrough. These openings are covered with a mesh material suchas screen wire or the like, so as to hold the fibrous'material incompact relation when the filter unit 8 is closed Fig. 2 is anelevational view of a water feeder together, as indicated in Figs. 1 and4. The frame ID has an out-turned lip II on the 'lower and outer portionthereof so as to support the filter in 3 the correct position when it isplaced within the open side oithe cabinet I as indicated in Figs. 1 and4. Guide members I: are secured to either ing it so that the filter unitI may be readily inserted into or be removed from the opening to allowfor cleaning or renewal of the fibrous material. v I

A perforated water supply pipe I! is positioned directly above filterunit i and has a fabrictubuiar member It positioned therearound andsecured thereto as by bands II. The tubular fabric member I! has aseries of pointed toothed projections l8 extending downwardly therefromso as to evenly distribute water discharged from perforated pipe I! evenif some of the perforations should be stopped up. The holes in theperforated pipe I! are preferably at the top of the pipe and spacedalong the length thereof. The pipe It connects with a supply pipe I!which has a valve 20 therein so as to regulate the amount of waterdirected onto the filter element I. A water outlet 29a is formed in thebottom of shell I and has a neck extending downwardly therefrom to allowthe attachment of a hose thereto for directing the waste water to someremote point, if so desired.

The pipe it rises upward from a point below the shell land passes intothe neck portion 2i of the shell which forms an air outlet passage fromthe shell. The air is directed through adjustable louvers 22 which arepositioned within removable frame 22d into a room as indicated in Fig.8. Each louver 22 is positioned on a vertical shaft 22b to admit ofmanual adjustment to direct the air outward into the room at any desiredangle.

The air conditioner 3 is adapted to be placed in the lower portion of awindow opening and-has a downwardly turned re-entrant lip 23 along thetop of air passage 2i adapted to engage a complementary up-turnedre-entrant lip 24 secured along the lower edge of window sash 25 withthe window sash in raised position, as shown in Fig. 4. By

raising and lowering the window the correct amount of air may beadmitted into the room or the window sash 25 may be completely closed,

sufficient volume through the excelsior or other fibrous material toadequately supply the relatively unimpeded opening 2| under theinfluence of suction created by the fan I.

In the operation of the device the air conditioner 3 is placed withinthe window opening 2 and water pipe I! properly connected to pipe I topermit the water to flow upward through pipe l9 and fill tubular fabricmember i6 so the water will be evenly distributed along the entirelength of the filter element 8. of the filter is relatively large ascompared to the outlet, therefore comparatively little pressuredifferential between the inlet and the outlet will be developed indrawing the air through the moist fibrous filter and moistening element8. The air will pass outward through outlet opening 2| into The area ofthe a'r inlet 4 It is to be pointed out that the present air conditionerutilizes only a relatively small portion of the window area and that thewindow may be .freely opened or closed within the limits of reentrantlips 28-24 for regulating the air or for closing and locking the window.Furthermore, the air inlet is beneath the air outlet portion 2i and isnormally shaded and sheltered against weather and may be used during arain storm without the likelihood of water heating through the fibrouselements.

The filter pads are also protected, due to the fact that they are inclose proximity to the wall of the building.

It may be further pointed out that one or more units may be installed ineach room and still utilize a single exhaust fan, thereby the entirehouse may be easily and efficiently air conditioned and since the moistair is being moved outward rather than being forced into the room, therelative humidity does not approach the saturation point as readily asif the moist air is being forced into the building without the properoutlets.

Having thus described the invention what is claimed is:

1. An air conditioner system for cooling and humidifying air used in abuilding and comprising an air conditioning unit comprising a holowhousing adapted to fit into the lower portion of a window of saidbuilding, said housing having an outwardly and downwardly depending neckportion, an air inlet on the inner side of said downwardly dependingneck portion and an air outlet into said building on the upper end ofsaid housing, fibrous material disposed within a confining elementwithin said air inlet opening in such manner as to permit air to passtherethrough into said building, and a water dispensing elementincluding a pipe having upwardly directed perforations formed thereinpositioned above said fibrous material for evenly distributing waterdownward onto said fibrous material to pass therethrough for evenlymoistening all of said fibrous material over which the incoming airpasses.

2. An air conditioner system for cooling and humidifying air used in.abuilding and comprising an air conditioning unit comprising a hollowhousing adapted to fit into the lower portion of a window of saidbuilding, said housing having an outwardly and downwardly depending'neckportion, an air inlet into said building on the inner side of saiddownwardly depending neck portion, an air outet into said building onthe upper end of said housing, fibrous material disposed with aconfining element within said air inlet opening in such manner as topermit air to pass therethrough into said building, a perforated waterdispensing pipe disposed above said fibrous material, said perforatedwater pipe having upwardiy directed perforations and a tubular fabriccovering therearound, the ends of which tubular fabric covering are inbinding relation with said pipe so the water will be forced outwardthrough said tubular fabric covering and be distributed downward ontoand through said fabric coverthe room of the house and be directedthereing to evenly moisten same and over which the incoming air passes.

3. An air conditioner system for cooling and humidifying air used in abuilding and comprising an air conditioning unit comprising a hollowhousing adapted to fit into the lower portion of a window of saidbuilding, said housing having an outwardly and downwardly depending neckportion, an air inlet on the inner side ofsaid downwardly depending neckportion and an air outlet into said building on the upper end of saidhousing, fibrous material disposed within a confining element withinsaid air inlet opening in such manner as to permit air to passtherethrough into said building, a water dispensing pipe having upwardlydirected perforations formed therein disposed above said fibrousmaterial and having a tubular fabric covering therearound, said tubularfabric covering having the ends thereof in binding relation with saidpipe and having depending toothed portions for directing water onto saidfibrous material.

4. An air conditionersystem for coolin and humidifying air used in abuilding, an air conditioning unit comprising a hollow housing adaptedto fit within the lower portion of a window opening of said building,said housing having an outwardly and downwardly depending neck portion,an air inlet on the inner side of said downwardly depending neck portionand an air outlet into said building on the upper end of said housing,fibrous material disposed within a co fi ng element in such manner as topermit air to pass therethrough into said building, said confiningelement adapted to be removably inserted within the air inlet of saidhousing, a water dispensing perforated pipe disposed above said fibrousmaterial. said perforated pipe having upwardly directed perforationstherein, a tubular fabric covering therearound the ends of which ar inbinding relation with said pipe so that water passing from said pipewill fill and be forced through said fibrous covering which hasdepending tooth-like members disposed along the length thereof 'todirect water evenly onto the fibrous material to be passed evenlydownward therethrough to moisten said fibrous material through which theincoming air passes, said incoming air being cooled and humidifiedthereby.

5. In an air conditioning system to be used file of this patent:

6 in conjunction with a building, wherein outside air is drawn into thebuilding through an air conditioning unit and exhausted from saidbuilding through an outlet, remote from said air conditioning unit, thecombination of a window opening in said building, an outlet in saidbuilding remote from said window opening, an air exhaust fan in saidoutlet, an air conditioning unit disposed in the lower portion of saidwindow opening, said air conditioning unit-comprising a hollow housinghaving a portion extending outwardly of said opening and downwardlyadjacent a wall of said building, an air inlet in said portion facingsaid wall of said building, a removable frame in said housing containingfibrous material, and means in said housing for moistening said fibrousmaterial.

JOSEPH M. LEWIS.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the UNITEDSTATES PATENTS Number Name Date 706,327 Lawrence Aug. 5, 1902 835,895Smith Nov. 13, 1906 2,010,808 Braine Aug. 13, 1935 2,035,653 HaskellMar. 31, 1936 2,051,079 Faber et al Aug. 18, 1936 2,087,637 Burt July20, 1937 2,187,019 De Mund et a1 Jan. 16, 1940 2,189,391 Bowdish Feb. 6,1940 2,333,374 Guthrie Nov 2, 1943 2,376,341 Burk et a1. May 22, 19452,380,586 Essick July 81, 1945 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 6,756France Dec. 22, 1906

